Hurricane Katrina -- the blame game
An interesting view from some conservative Black leaders.
From
CNS News:
'Black Culture' Blamed for Hurricane Katrina Woes
Nearly a year after Hurricane Katrina flooded the city of New Orleans, some prominent black conservatives and religious leaders blame cultural problems among African Americans, not the government, for "the great breakdown witnessed during and following" the natural disaster.
The conservative leaders will meet in Washington, D.C., on July 26 to discuss how best to transform the "human spirit," the destruction of which they say "is at the heart" of the still evolving crisis in New Orleans.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Tuesday awarded $4.2 billion -- up to $150,000 for each Louisiana homeowner seeking to rebuild or sell their houses that were destroyed or damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year.
But, many African Americans who were living in New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent catastrophic flooding of the city believe the Bush administration's slow response to the disaster was racially motivated.
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, the African American founder and president of the Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny (BOND) is not willing to blame the Bush administration. Instead, he faults what he calls the "black culture."
"It's not President Bush's responsibility to make us get up and take care of ourselves. That was a political ploy in order to make blacks believe the Republican Party was against them and that they really don't care," Peterson said.
And a bit more:
Rev. Grant Storm, who is the Caucasian minister and president of Conservative Christians for Reform, echoed Peterson's view. "The mentality of 'government's going to bail me out. Where's the government?'" is "in the black culture," Storm said. "The mentality is instilled within their churches and in their homes -- of 'the government owes you, the government is your solution, and the government will come and help you.'
"When the government doesn't come and help them, frankly all they do is yap and complain," said Storm, instead of "saying 'Hey, I better go get a job, I better go on my own, I better go find an apartment, I better go take care of myself and my family.
"They are waiting for more FEMA money, they are waiting for more relief money and it ain't coming, or it's coming slow; meanwhile, the surrounding parishes -- the predominantly white parishes -- they are rebuilding on their own, and the same way in the Gulf of Mississippi," said Storm. "Orleans -- they still don't have their flooded cars off the streets."
So true -- if you read any of the blog entries during that time, people in other areas just dug in and rebuilt.
Nice to see some people finally speaking truth to power...
Posted by DaveH at July 13, 2006 8:22 AM
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